We are the "The Green Room," a constituency of university students who have one single-minded goal: to bring the knowledge of the academy to the public. Though we value what we are able to do ourselves, our real power is in what we are able to help others to accomplish. That is why we are reaching out—we want to help. To this end, the Green Room is committed to diligent scholarship on issues of contemporary relevance, and to sharing what we discover with the world.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, there are roughly 3,322 abortions per day; amounting to 1.21 million abortions performed every year in the United States. There are many different opinions about abortion, such as “pro-life” or “pro-choice”. People who believe that abortion is wrong and should be stopped in our society are considered to be on the “pro-life” side of the controversy. Those who believe a woman should be able to decide what she does with her body and who support abortions in the United States would be considered “pro-choice”. In today’s society, the issue of illegalization of abortions in some states, if not all, has become more and more of a controversial topic. In order to have an opinion about this controversy, people should be informed about both sides as well as other perspectives.

Beginning of the Controversy: Roe v. Wade

Roe v. Wade is a well-known Supreme Court decision that ultimately made abortion legal in the United States. “The decision held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without legal restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy” (Roe v. Wade). The decision to make abortion legal in the United States sparked the controversial views and many debates about this issue in today’s society. An interesting detail that most people are unaware of is about the first abortion laws in history. “The first abortion laws were aimed at protecting the mother from the abortionist. They were not necessarily set in the context that the fetus was, from conception, a human being that happened to be protected” (Burrell). It wasn’t until later that the controversy in legality began to circle around the life of the fetus, not necessarily the safety of the mother.

The definition of pro-choice according to American Heritage: “Favoring or supporting the legal right of women and girls to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy to term” . There are many reasons why pro-choice advocates believe this about abortion. An important argument from this side of the controversy includes: “If people want to stop abortion, they should turn to methods that do work” according to the ten arguments supporting pro-choice. This is extremely important in my opinion because if there are people who are against abortions, they should not blatantly say something is wrong without providing possible solutions. There are many ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies that result with abortions. For example, offering sex education in order for people to be informed about the decisions they are making. Pro-choice advocates also argue that, “Doctors, not governments, should always be the people to make medical recommendations and opinions” according to ten arguments supporting pro-choice. This argument is especially important because in today’s society, people feel more and more controlled by our government, causing a feeling of less power. For the government to illegalize abortions in the United States would be comparable with the President telling everyone they had to receive an operation, which is outrageous and would never be allowed. These are only a limited amount of reasons why people should have a right to their own decisions, especially when involving their own body.

The definition of pro-life according to American Heritage: “Advocating the legal protection of human embryos and fetuses, especially by favoring the outlawing of abortion on the ground that it is the taking of a human life”. On the other side of the controversy, pro-life advocates believe that abortion should be illegal and should be banned from the United States. An important argument that pro-life defenders embody is that life begins at conception, and therefore abortion is equivalent to murdering a human being. Since murder is obviously illegal in our country, it would make sense to think that abortion should also be illegal. A different, less emotional argument would be that most Americans who pay taxes may have conflicting views about the legality of abortions since often times, U.S. tax dollars are used in order to fund a majority of abortions according to Women's Issues. Abortion has been made illegal in some States in the past, however has later been overturned. People advocating for pro-life are intensively trying to pass laws in order to make abortions illegal, but only time will tell what the outcome will be.

Recent controversy about government funding of public health centers such as Planned Parenthood has caused government officials to consider reducing the funding significantly. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Republicans want to allow states to redirect money away from abortion providers" and also take away $317 million Planned Parenthood for the 2011 fiscal year. This would mean a significant decrease in family planning, health services such as cancer screenings, and birth control availability along with many more services.

The Right Argument

In my opinion, pro-choice is the more logical answer in the debate of abortion in the United States. To me, the arguments for pro-life appear to be more of an emotionally biased decision when in reality, the right choice may vary for different people. The choice to keep or abort a baby should be entirely up to the woman. It is her body therefore the choice should not belong to any governmental laws or officials. In many cases, abortion is the only logical thing to do in situations of poverty, lack of family support, abusive relationships, rape, etc.

Possible Solutions

Possible solutions for this well-known controversy are still debatable and many people with opinions about this topic may not agree with the compromises or solutions for abortion in the United States. In order to make abortion more agreeable in the United States, our government could withdraw it's financial support for the funding of abortions, not necessarily all of it's funding (other health services that Planned Parenthood provides) but solely the funding of abortions. If a woman has the ability to choose abortion, she should be able to pay for it herself, not rely on other people's tax money. Another possible solution, that is more favored by pro-life supporters, would be adoption. Adoption gives a life to the unborn child while also giving it to a family that truly wants to have a baby. Although adoption has been known to be one of the hardest decisions a pregnant woman can make, it would ultimately be beneficial for everyone involved.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Abortion is one of the most highly debated topics among the world to this day. There are many different views and opinions that surround this topic that make the situation all that more complicated. The sides of the argument include Pro-Choice and Pro-Life and it is one of the only arguments that effects people morally, socially and medically. Pro-Choice refers to those who support women’s rights to abort a fetus. Pro- Life activists believe abortion should be made illegal and believe abortion is murder. When a woman is given the option to abort, immediately there is a lot of emotion and pressure surrounding the decision to be made. Depending on the circumstance, a woman’s right to abort a fetus is crucial, always controversial, but ultimately it is a very impactful decision from all angles. Pro-Life activists have valid arguments and support the right to life, but there are times where abortion is done in an understandable situation. Abortions are part of a woman’s right to choose and the law protects that right. Overall, I believe abortions can be done for the right reasons and they are always going to be needed in various circumstances, I support a woman’s right to choose.

WHO HAS ABORTIONS

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According to the Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions have been on the decline since the 1970s. 61.8% of abortions happen in 9 weeks or less into the pregnancy, it is healthiest for a woman to get an abortion done early and an easier procedure for doctors to complete. Of the women who are getting abortions, over half of them are under the age of 20. According to the picture to the right, majority of abortions happen because of financial issues, women aren’t ready for a child, there are problems with the father, and a few other reasons as well. Although there is the option of adoption after the child is born, would you really want a mother who isn’t mature enough to take care of a fetus for nine months in her womb and expect her to raise it to be healthy? I understand why Pro-Life activists want to preserve the fetus and give it a good life if a mother is unable to, but Pro-Life activists ignore the other factors such as a woman’s feelings about the situations. Teen mom’s sometimes can’t emotionally handle the effects of having or carrying a child. Their bodies haven’t planned for it and it is physically demanding and changes their childhood forever. The mother’s life is equally important the fetus and both parties are accounted for in the abortion decision.

The Guttmacher Institute provides accurate and current statistics about abortion. People who get abortions come from many different ages, races, religions and locations. Their website, link previously listed, contains a video that summarizes who, what, where, when and why all about terminating pregnancies. Along with the video and statistics, Guttmacher also provides abortion services and explains the laws surrounding the process.

PRO-CHOICE

The main argument made by pro-choice supporters is for choices to remain an open option for any individual, there should not be a law against deciding if having a child would be a good option for the carrier or for the unborn. By the Freed Dictionary definition, pro choice is described as “favoring or supporting the legal right of women and girls to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy to term,” (Freed). Freed Dictionary also describes pro-choice as a woman’s right to control her own body.

When a fetus isn’t recognized as entering personhood, abortion is not able to be judged by the government as murder. Recently the government has put many restrictions on abortion rights. According to the article The Case for Pro-Choice Participation in Drafting Fetal Homicide Laws, by Mary Beth Hickcox-Howard, fetal homicide laws are putting a lot of restrictions on women who want to abort. “The only acceptable response to a proposed fetal homicide law is to attempt to block its passage entirely and substitute a bill that enhances punishments for assaulting a pregnant woman, but does not create a separate criminal offense for harming of killing the fetus,” (Hickcox-Howard 319). This is an example of fetal homicide laws in action. If the government can’t make a firm destinction between attacking a pregnant woman as one person or attacking a pregnant woman as two people (the fetus being the second person), we can tell that pro-life arguments aren’t strong enough to be put into action. Pro-Choice activists do not like when new laws are passed, it creates more work for them to prove their stance. Not to say that pro-life supporters don’t have valid arguments but the fact of the matter is, the government has yet to distinguish a fetus as a human. The new laws put restrictions on abortions and make it more difficult for a woman in need to get the surgery. Each side of the abortion debate have very strong points to be made, but when looking at the facts, abortion has yet to be outlawed and women have yet to stop needing the medical procedure.

When researching the topic of abortion, a lot of results came up as personal stories and experiences. Many pro-choice activists post about positive abortion experiences, Kimberly Blessing goes into detail about the reasons of why she is pro-choice. Many of her points can resonate with many people across the United States. Blessings makes the statement, “I’m pro-choice because I know the panic a woman can suffer when she thinks she’s pregnant,” (Blessings). This feeling is common amongst countless women everywhere, we see it in everyday life, movies, TV shows and books. Maybe there was a misuse or no use of contraceptives or maybe there was an incident of rape, sometimes women feel like their life is over when they have an unplanned pregnancy. Women must know if they will be able to take care of this baby and possibly need to decide if they would be able to handle giving it up for adoption.

Blessing’s blog is very personal, her writing is very informal and appeals to many readers. After reading what she had to say it made me realize how pro-life supporters in the government are trying to get these laws passed that are ultimately stripping women’s right to choose away from them. Another point made in this blog that really opened my eyes was “I’m pro-choice because there are already too many unwanted and uncared-for children in this world, and I believe to bring another unwanted one in is cruel to that child,” (Blessings). Statements like this cannot be overlooked. Forcing a woman to go through with an unwanted pregnancy to result in an unwanted baby is an act of disrespect to those women and their child-to-be. When a woman is choosing to terminate her pregnancy, she is doing it to take care of something that would never result in a good situation for anybody. More personal abortions stories can be found at Our Bodies Ourselves.

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PRO-LIFE

Supporters of Pro-Life beliefs use The Bible and government policy to support their anti-abortion opinions. They believe that all lives should be saved, no matter what circumstance, no matter how long the fetus has been in the womb, according to the pro-life side of the argument, once a woman has conception of the fetus, it is a living person and abortion is murder. About every anti-abortion support group will tell you that terminating a pregnancy is the same thing is voluntarily killing an innocent human being. In my research I came across a website that fully supported life starting the second of conception. Many people contribute to the question of why pro-life? At this website readers will find personal stories of how the pro-life movement has affected them.

Most women who have gotten an abortion typically have misused contraceptives or didn’t use them, very few women use protection methods correctly who get abortions. Pro-life supporters believe abortion questions some women’s morality. A blog found about Religion and Pro-Life Issues explains why they believe a woman is guilty of murder when she is choosing to have an abortion. The blog uses God in the argument and explains how the bibles says you should not kill people. This is another way anti-abortionists say abortion is murder. Many pro-life activists use God as their reasoning as to why they do not support abortions. A blog by Frank Pavone, Priests for Life, uses different verses in the Bible to prove many reasons toward anti-abortion. Each post uses a different excerpt from the Bible and brings it back to why they feel abortion is morally wrong.

The topic is black and white for anti-abortionists, if a woman is pregnant, they should have the baby. On this side of the argument, they understand that some women are not ready to bring a child into the world, keeping that in mind, this group also provides support to help the mother raise the child or they help them with the adoption process. Religion and Politics: USA, by Lisa Sowle Cahill, explains “The Pregnant Woman Support Act proposes to reduce abortions by promoting pregnancy assistance, adoption, and education and support for new mothers,” (Cahill 189). Cahill acknowledges the fact that women who want to abort should realize there is help for them and they don’t have abort their pregnancy. This also shows how even with alternative options to abortion some women still need them. The main belief of pro-life supporters is a mother should take care of the child until it is able to live outside of the womb, they do not necessarily have to raise the baby but having the baby is the purpose of anti-abortion activists.

SETTLING THE ARGUMENT

Pro-Life supporters are accused of not giving enough support to pregnant women and pro-choice supporters are accused of being murderers. As of now, there is no settlement on the debate of abortion. Many states have lowered the amount of money they give to abortions and require much more legal processing before a woman can actually get an abortion. The numbers of abortions have been on the decline since the 1980s but they still occur fairly often. Approximately 3,700 abortions occur daily in the United States. Unintended pregnancies will always be an issue in America and abortion will continue to be debated. I believe that a woman should never be constricted to her choices dealing with her body. There are plenty of options for women to consider when entering pregnancy, and abortion should always remain to be one of them.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

I am an Athens County, Ohio resident and my home is on an environmentally pristine rural farm nestled in the Appalachian foothills. During the past year, I have watched our community become increasingly united in concern for the pending changes coming to our area, regarding the hydraulic fracturing boom that rapidly approaches the land surrounding our homes and our way of life. In order to better understand what may be coming our way, I began researching the method of hydraulic fracturing, the results of the process, and the accounts of the people who are involved. Ohio is sinking in an 8 billion dollar deficit, the economy is in dire need of a boost, people are in desperate need of work, and like the rest of the nation, our dependency on foreign oil is bringing us further and further away from where we need to be. In the quest for alternative energies, we must always coincide with only that which is renewable and sustainable for our environment, and its clear that change toward this path is essential for survival. Could this process of tapping into one of our great resources of natural gas be the solution to all this?

Hydraulic fracturing, referred to as “fracking”, is a method of releasing natural gas from underground shale by deep drilling with a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals. In the 1940’s the Halliburton Corporation led the way in this method of extracting gas and oil from the vertical drilling of wells by causing the rock to shatter from the fluid injection mix and catching the released natural gas upon pumping out the injection fluid (Bank 64). In the 1990’s this original method was improved by creating a drill that would turn 90 degrees to bore in a horizontal direction for up to two miles. Today, from one drilling pad, companies are able to drill multiple wells in all directions, making miles of underground paths across hundreds of acres to collect gas (Bank 65). Forty acres are needed for modern drilling platforms, and drilling goes down as far as 8,000 feet underground.

At this early stage of my research, I have to stop right here. Chemicals? In 2011, according to House Energy and Commerce Committee, SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY CHEMICALS are used in the fracking injection fluid, some being extremely hazardous to human health, such as benzene, lead, and diesel fuel. However, as I recognize the need for big change toward our betterment, I realize that perhaps big action as such might need to happen. So with an open mind, I continue.
As we all know the gas and oil industry is massively growing from fracking, thousands of jobs are predicted to be created in the near future. Our nation is rich with shale that contains natural gas, and now we have the means to extract it, which of course will bring in a huge revenue. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, whose department is in charge of mineral rights for 700 million U.S. acres, says that hydraulic fracturing “can be done in a safe way, in an environmentally responsible way, and in a way that doesn’t create all of the concerns that it is creating across the country right now”(Cook 1).

So there is concern across the country, and is Mr. Salazar saying that while fracking could be safe and responsible, the country’s concern is because this is not currently the situation? Lets look more closely at the current situation. The chemical fracking solution is injected. For the drilling of one well, four million gallons of this chemical solution is needed. And of course, what goes in will inevitably come out, and this is what is called wastewater. In 2011, the New York Times released an investigative report of the severity of environmental risks, one being “the radioactivity in drilling wastewater that is sometimes hundreds to thousands of times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water standard". As geochemist Tracy Banks explains it, along with natural gas, this chemical injection also releases radioactive compounds such as uranium flowing along with the toxic chemical fluid. She states, “the current methods for cleaning wastewater generated by fracking are woefully inadequate….this water needs to be treated like industrial waste” (Bank 63). So where is this industrial waste going, and how is it making its way to drinking water? A review from the Associated Press in January 2011 exposed that “Pennsylvania’s fracking water treatment revealed the state could not account for the disposal method of 1.28 million barrels of wastewater (one-fifth of the annual total) due to faulty reporting. Some drinking water utilities downstream from fracking wastewater facilities have struggled to sufficiently treat or remove trihalomethanes, which can cause cancer with chronic exposure. A lack of adequate oversight has allowed wastewater from fracking to contaminate the Delaware River Basin, which supplies drinking water for 15 million people in four states”. How can this be allowed to continue? A ProPublica 2011 report states “An ongoing investigation into fracking since 2008 found court and government documentation of more than 1,000 cases of water contamination in Colorado, New Mexico, Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Reporters have unearthed gas and oil company campaign donations to members of Congress opposed to fracking disclosure requirements and catalogued individual and community case studies on the dangers of fracking, including environmental violations and contamination”. And so the Haliburton Loophole was created by the federal government as a way for fracking fluids to be legally exempted from the Clean Water Act. Otherwise the entire chemical composition of the fluids would have to be revealed. Remember Haliburton? That’s the big gas company who continues to pioneer the road for fracking methods, including necessary loopholes. As far as contaminated drinking water due to fracking, there are many, many examples from which to chose where the tap water is actually flammable due to so much methane mixed with the water. Here is one example:

This seems scary, right? Try watching video after video of footage from homes across the United States, all near monstrous drilling sites, all the residents explaining that before the drilling company came in, their water was fine. Now it smells bad, its often murky brown, and IT LIGHTS ON FIRE.

Another issue to be noted regarding hydraulic fracturing are the earthquakes resulting from the extreme pressure of the injection of fracking fluid. Even Texas, never before experiencing seismic activity, is now reporting earthquakes near some injection sites for the fracking waste. “Last fall a swarm of about 500 mini-quakes rocked central Arkansas near the Fayetteville Shale, and A 4.7-magnitude earthquake in February prompted the Arkansas oil and Gas Commission to order two drilling companies to temporarily suspend operations”(Bank 66). Do we really need a more clear sign of environmental disruption taking place?

Aside from flammable tap water and earthquakes, are the people nearby the drilling and the residents whose land is being leased to the drilling companies reporting of the profit and benefits of their experience? Ms. Banks, author of “Fracking Nation” visit’s the area where gas drilling first started happening on a big scale, the Barnett Shale of Fort Worth, Texas. Now with about 14,000 gas wells in this region, “residents have complained for years of contaminated water, poor air quality, and unexplained health problems such as headaches, dizziness, blackouts, and muscle contractions” (Bank 65). In some towns drilling is set up within one mile of schools where children are suffering with chronic nosebleeds, dizziness, and nausea (Bank 65). The PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center reports that in Pennsylvania more than 3,000 gas fracking wells were within two miles of 320 day care centers, 67 schools, and nine hospitals.

It begins to feel all too close to home when I look more closely at Ohio’s involvement with fracking. Our fair state sits atop the massive Marcellus Shale, which also underlies parts of West Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania. This 95,000 square mile slab could supply the entire nation’s natural gas need for two years (Bank 63). What a treasure! And so the profit for Ohio begins like this- As Pennsylvania has been heavily drilling their portion of the Marcellus Shale, the Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection agency stopped allowing the previous means of disposing of the fracking wastewater in the rivers. Then, the wastewater was sent to treatment plants, but eventually the agency found even this to be an ineffective means of disposal. So what is there to do with all this chemical waste? Send it to Ohio! In the last six months of 2010 there were 14.8 million gallons of highly concentrated fracking injection fluid sent to the state of Ohio, who has banked almost 1 million dollars in hazardous fluid dumping fees this past year alone. Also, since the state of New York has no facilities to treat the millions of gallons of wastewater that their wells generate, the oil companies have stated that their plan is to haul all the wastewater to Ohio just like Pennsylvania. As far as the drilling taking place in Ohio, we could look at an example of one of many disgruntled residents, Harry Boyd, landowner in Monroe County, who by his own admission is no “green tree hugger”. In an interview by Amy Mall, Natural Resources Defense Council staff, Mr.Boyd explains that he leased his mineral rights to an oil company and the fracking began in 2007. Mr.Boyd stated that he happened on the company “blowing all of the used fracturing fluid…out into the air and the woods on his land”. State inspectors visited the site and told the company to stop, but they continued disposing of the fluid in the same way. Boyd states that the fluid then flowed out to three streams which lead to the Ohio River, and he estimates that up to 500,000 gallons of fluid waste were ejected out over his land. Harry Boyd has given up all his plans of using his land for farming or anything else. Ohio has just passed Bill 133 that legalizes drilling on all state land, even including state parks. Local Athens County environmental attorney and activist, Don Wirtshafter reports, “On September 6, the Forest Service and Federal Bureau of Land Management put up for bid the right to drill 3000 acres of the Wayne (National Forest), most of this directly upstream of the Athens drinking water intake”.

Lockouts seem to be a large portion of recent news, whether it is the NFL, NBA or NHL.The 2004-2005 NHL season was completely cancelled due to a lockout. The NFL had a lockout for the 2012 season but the owners and players resolved the issue and are having a successful season. This does not seem to be the case for the Nation Basketball Association though. They are currently in a lockout that has already cancelled the first two weeks of this season. So what is a “lockout” exactly? It is basically a dispute between owners and players over aspects of the NBA. One of the main focuses of their disputes is money. The NBA is currently fighting over money. The already extremely rich NBA owners are attempting to take even more money from the players. As it looks the lockout will continue till the players are willing to give up more money to the owners.While more and more of the season gets cancelled both the players and the owners will continually lose money.The players gain no money at all while the lockout continues. The owners who are still being greedy and asking for more money are still getting paid from television providers like TBS, Fox and TNT. I find it strange that while the owners are asking for more money they are still receiving hefty paychecks. This NBA lockout is a standoff between millionaires and billionaires.

With the possibility of the entire season being cancelled many NBA stars are doing other jobs or playing overseas just to earn a paycheck. “Nets All-Star Deron Williams has a deal with Turkish club Besiktas -which is also courting Kobe Bryant - and most top players said they would consider playing overseas,”

Many star players a being forced to play overseas so that they can make a paycheck. With no end in sight more and more players will be playing overseas or getting regular jobs like us to stay afloat. The lockout is hardest on rookie players that just got drafted. They have no received a paycheck yet so there is no nest egg in which they can live off of during the lockout. Many rookie players like Kyrie Irving have decided to go back to college. Irving will be a sophomore at Duke and will still be able to increase his skills while playing in the NCAA. Like I said before the lockout is just billionaires versus millionaires. At the end of the day the owners are going to get want they want because they have more power. They have more money and can risk losing an entire season because they are still making money off of television contracts. The players that cannot play overseas will soon fold into the owners. The owners will get what they want and will soon be even richer while the players’ salaries are harshly cut. The owners are trying to make a 50-50 split in the money going to players and owners. There are 30 teams so about 30 owners and around 450 players. It is outrageous that the owners are asking for a split of the money when there are 15 times the number of players than there are owners. The owners are going to continue to do a standoff and not agree to a deal until it is exactly what they want. The players will slowly begin to break down and offer more and more money to the owners until they agree. Hopefully this point happens before the entire season is cancelled. A cancellation is a huge threat this year and hopefully they will reach an agreement before that has to happen.

My partner Michaela understood the basic idea behind my report concerning senate bill 5 and its negative outcomes for the public. I probably do need to address and change some of the pictures and videos in my article to make more persuasive and relevant to the argument I am trying to make. I just found pictures that looked like they may describe what I was talking about but they weren’t directly related or discussed. I probably need to discuss what is happening in the photos to make more of a connection. The feedback definitely was helpful. I never would have thought about the pictures if it wasn’t for Michaela’s input. After reading Michaela’s I wanted to revise my last paragraph and add a way to combat senate bill 5 because I left that out. I also wanted to include more information about my video and pictures. My argument as I would describe is that senate bill 5 is meant to bring down the debt of Ohio but the negatives that come along with it for the public don’t at this point in time outweigh the reduced weight.

Friday, October 28, 2011

According to the Guttmacher Institute, there are roughly 3,322 abortions per day; amounting to 1.21 million abortions performed every year in the United States. There are many different opinions about abortion, such as “pro-life” or “pro-choice”. People who believe that abortion is wrong and should be stopped in our society are considered to be on the “pro-life” side of the controversy. Those who believe a woman should be able to decide what she does with her body and who support abortions in the United States would be considered “pro-choice”. In today’s society, the issue of illegalization of abortions in some states, if not all, has become more and more of a controversial topic. In order to have an opinion about this controversy, people should be informed about both sides as well as other perspectives.

Beginning of the Controversy: Roe v. Wade

Roe v. Wade is a well-known Supreme Court decision that ultimately made abortion legal in the United States. “The decision held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without legal restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy” (Roe v. Wade). The decision to make abortion legal in the United States sparked the controversial views and many debates about this issue in today’s society. An interesting detail that most people are unaware of is about the first abortion laws in history. “The first abortion laws were aimed at protecting the mother from the abortionist. They were not necessarily set in the context that the fetus was, from conception, a human being that happened to be protected” (Burrell). It wasn’t until later that the controversy in legality began to circle around the life of the fetus, not necessarily the safety of the mother.

The definition of pro-choice: “Favoring or supporting the legal right of women and girls to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy to term” (American Heritage). There are many reasons why pro-choice advocates believe this about abortion. An important argument from this side of the controversy includes: “If people want to stop abortion, they should turn to methods that do work” (10 Arguments). This is extremely important in my opinion because if there are people who are against abortions, they should not blatantly say something is wrong without providing possible solutions. There are many ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies that result with abortions. For example, offering sex education in order for people to be informed about the decisions they are making. Pro-choice advocates also argue that, “Doctors, not governments, should always be the people to make medical recommendations and opinions” (10 Arguments). This argument is especially important because in today’s society, people feel more and more controlled by our government, causing a feeling of less power. For the government to illegalize abortions in the United States would be comparable with the President telling everyone they had to receive an operation, which is outrageous and would never be allowed. These are only a limited amount of reasons why people should have a right to their own decisions, especially when involving their own body.

The definition of pro-life: “Advocating the legal protection of human embryos and fetuses, especially by favoring the outlawing of abortion on the ground that it is the taking of a human life” (American Heritage). On the other side of the controversy, pro-life advocates believe that abortion should be illegal and should be banned from the United States. An important argument that pro-life defenders embody is that life begins at conception, and therefore abortion is equivalent to murdering a human being (Women’s Issues). Since murder is obviously illegal in our country, it would make sense to think that abortion should also be illegal. A different, less emotional argument would be that most Americans who pay taxes may have conflicting views about the legality of abortions since often times, U.S. tax dollars are used in order to fund a majority of abortions (Women’s Issues). Abortion has been made illegal in some States in the past, however has later been overturned. People advocating for pro-life are intensively trying to pass laws in order to make abortions illegal, but only time will tell what the outcome will be.

Recent controversy about government funding of public health centers such as Planned Parenthood has caused government officials to consider reducing the funding significantly. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Republicans want to allow states to redirect money away from abortion providers" and also take away $317 million Planned Parenthood for the 2011 fiscal year. This would mean a significant decrease in family planning, health services such as cancer screenings, and birth control availability along with many more services.

The Right Argument

In my opinion, pro-choice is the more logical answer in the debate of abortion in the United States. To me, the arguments for pro-life appear to be more of an emotionally biased decision when in reality, the right choice may vary for different people. The choice to keep or abort a baby should be entirely up to the woman. It is her body therefore the choice should not belong to any governmental laws or officials. In many cases, abortion is the only logical thing to do in situations of poverty, lack of family support, abusive relationships, rape, etc.

Possible Solutions

Possible solutions for this well-known controversy are still debatable and many people with opinions about this topic may not agree with the compromises or solutions for abortion in the United States. In order to make abortion more agreeable in the United States, our government could withdraw it's financial support for the funding of abortions, not necessarily all of it's funding (other health services that Planned Parenthood provides) but solely the funding of abortions. If a woman has the ability to choose abortion, she should be able to pay for it herself, not rely on other people's tax money. Another possible solution, that is more favored by pro-life supporters, would be adoption. Adoption gives a life to the unborn child while also giving it to a family that truly wants to have a baby. Although adoption has been known to be one of the hardest decisions a pregnant woman can make, it would ultimately be beneficial for everyone involved.

I was talking to a friend the other day, who is both a young mother and an avid blog-reader. She mentioned how blogs by mothers might impact younger mothers to feel inadequate if they do not have the wonderful life described by the bloggers.I was struck by this observation, and thought about several blogs that I follow; they could fit the statement. In my personal experience, I envied some of the vacations and opportunities some bloggers had, but I found it hard to believe their blogs had such a strong impact. Yet, the matter disturbed me: do blog writers, specifically mothers, have persuasive power over their readers ? If so, is it due to critical views, or carefree, cheerful blogs?

The matter perplexed me. Seeing how blogs have come to play a substantial role in today's networking, I wanted to find out what others said about blogs' influence. One contributor to George Mason University's course material, Heidi Lawrence, asserts her claim on blog authors' power over their readers:

Every possible personal oddity imaginable is confessed over these thousands of blogs. Their readers reply by sympathizing, agreeing, respectfully disagreeing, or reciprocating the confession by relating their own moment of weakness or sin... the use of confession rhetorically...enables the speaker to contribute to and become part of the community of bloggers...by subverting the power structure...—confession does not result in discipline, judgment, or punishment—it engages the reader through further confession, agreement, dissent, or even non sequitur discourse. In short, the confessions result in fostering community through interaction, no matter what the tenor of that interaction might be, because the confession appeals to the reader in a way that persuades the reader to respond. (19)

Lawrenceexplains that the authors influence readers through a confession that the writer makes through a blog. Not only do blogs allow a place to vent and share news, but they create a connection between the writer and followers; readers feel sympathetic and can immediately respond to posts. Chelsea-Kay, the author of the blog Media in Focus, agrees by relating that blog authors manage to influence readers on various topics because "blogs have become a vital part of the internet aesthetic." And as blogs have come to play a leading role in the 'guidelines of the internet', they have a stronger influence in shaping readers' opinions. That influence grows as readers learn to trust the writer. But, what motivates the reader to follow blogs?

In a research experiment, Huang, Chou, and Lin studied blog readers' motives for following blogs. They found three main motives: affective (or emotional) exchanges; information search and entertainment; and fun. They found "readers who focus on affective exchanges tend to believe messages on blogs, interact with bloggers, and spread messages to others...The information search and entertainment [motivated] blog readers who focus on information can find something they trust, and blog readers who read just for fun similarly believe blogs are a trustworthy medium..." (Huang 354). I understand that reading blogs is like connecting with the author, but I grew up with technology and am more comfortable browsing the web, scanning blogs and becoming acquainted with bloggers' opinions than generations before me may be. Does that gap in age have to do with the confidence younger generations have in the internet and blogs?

In comparison of how my mother dabbles in the blogging world, and her adept inability to understand much of the new technological capabilities, she spends less time on blogs than Emily P., a new mom. As a report by Krayewski on the study entitled "Why Y Women?" explains that the rising generation, Gen Y, women were "found to be more influenced by blogs – those written by professionals, as well as those written by people with whom the women can identify." This growing influence of blogs on the rising generation corresponds to the increase in usage of social media networks that allow people to share opinions, information, and gossip, whether it be anonymously or not. And because of the confession aspect of blogs, a personal bond between the author and reader becomes stronger, which increases the influence the author has, as the reader develops trust in the writer.

How then, can mothers impact others by blogging? Lee-Ann Khoh says, "The blog has enabled more and more ordinary citizens to become "manipulators" of information and the media. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves however they like, whenever they like." While some mothers use blogs as a way to share happy details, or the exciting events that happen, some use blogs as a mode of venting their struggles, worries, and mishaps from the view of a parent. Both types of blogging styles may manipulate, or influence, readers' opinions about motherhood, depending on how it is represented in blog posts.

Retrieved from personal image archives.

How often do you see pictures like that on the left where a child is clearly not enjoying life, as opposed to pictures similar to the one on the right, where a child is in all-innocence, completely happy? Some mother bloggers may wish to keep circumstances that are not all 'fine and dandy' to themselves; others don't mind sharing--negative experiences can help mothers reading the blog to learn from them. One mother blogger, Allison, describes her situation without camouflaging any unpleasant aspects of her life:

Motherhood is a multifaceted job – much like a gemstone that you hold in your hand turning in the light watching the angles and corners and surfaces glimmer and shine different, unexpected ways, only with more poop. As a mom I’m both hero and villain. I’m playmate and disciplinarian, teacher and student, and a bunch of other less glamorous things like...insomniac, bathroom coach...I have more roles than I can list because new ones arise every day. Am I an expert nail cutter, splinter-getter-outer? I am now. And, as a feather in my lovely mom-cap, as one last sexy thing I do, I plunge toilets. Often.

As she states her role so openly, Allison shares with her audience not the wonderful world of motherhood that others should aspire to, but her reality, which includes many unfavorable jobs. Because Allison discusses many hardships she faces, her readers will not be influenced into feeling dismal about their own abilities as mothers; but rather, they can take comfort that things do not always happen as planned. I do not find her blog negative; it relates blurbs from her everyday life that characterize her family's personality, struggles, and triumphs in a way that does not idolize her role as a mother, neither does it condemn motherhood, despite ever-present trials. An example of a trying time for a mother is shown in the video below. A mom blogger Katie, put together an entertaining video for her blog, showcasing her son and his unwillingness to eat solids, which frustrated Katie. She shows her readers that life is not all-fun-all-the-time, but that raising a child is hard work. However, she does so by connecting to her readers using a comical approach. Perhaps the technique of humor is a way to take her exasperating experience, such as baby Kai's refusal to eat solid foods, and try to make it into a better situation.

Despite what I had learned about blogs and their influence, I was still unsure if 'mommy blogs' truly affect younger mothers. But then I came across the blog of a Media Arts student that reviewed and analyzed a presentation by C. Jane Kendrick. The author of the blog, David, says, "Mommy blogs that are not an accurate representation of motherhood (either in a utopian or dystopian way) are not empowering." What he is saying is that blogs representing only the good or the bad, fail to influence with the same power because they are ineffectual in illustrating the complete picture of motherhood. This was a new idea to me, that, perhaps, 'mommy blogs' need to have the whole story to be influential.

During my conversation with my friend, I asked if blogs depict a seemingly ideal life, affected her as a mother. She laughed and replied, "Life isn't that perfect." I agreed with her answer; everybody faces hard times, even if they choose not to broadcast it to the world. And her response supports David's statement, as the blog proved to be unable to influence her. Then I realized that she is now a mother of three, so could it be that she was more influenced when she was starting out as a new mother? She pondered this and responded that her attentiveness to the 'cheesiness' (as she called the too-cheery impression some blogs give) and detecting how the story was embellished to add interest, not influence was not as fine-tuned at first, but that her opinion took time to form, as she gained her own experiences as a parent.

Throughout the research process, I continually looked to the young moms that I know to give me insights into their blogging world. Many times I grew frustrated as their answers did not match with what I believed was the 'right answer,' that of course the blogs influence them because of either a general negativity in the blogs they read, or a too-perfect world that some bloggers write about. Not until reviewing the scholarly articles with the blogs, as well as these moms' responses, that I realized the blogs with the most impact on mothers are the ones that display motherhood in all its glory and hardships, those that do not bury true insights into motherhood. For those are the blogs that will provide the most guidance and comfort for new mothers, and those are the blogs that will truly have a great influence.

Lawrence, Heidi. "Bless Me Blogger, for I Have Sinned: Community and Rhetoric of Confession in the Genre of the Blog." ENG 503: Theory and Practice of Editing class of the English MA program. George Mason University. print.